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Amazon is creating thousands of new jobs in its huge distribution network to cope with an increase in orders during the coronavirus pandemic.

Full and part-time positions at fulfilment centres and delivery driver opportunities will be available to meet a surge in online shopping during the lockdown.

The company's fulfilment centre in Fabian Way, Swansea, has over 1,000 permanent employees and there are also Amazon delivery stations in Port Talbot and Newport. A number of the jobs will be based at these sites.

Amazon's logistics network will also be utilised, along with Royal Mail, to deliver coronavirus test kits to essential workers and test sites across the UK.

Over 1,000 people are employed at the Amazon Fulfilment Centre in Swansea (Image: Matthew Horwood)

However, it is not clear how soon this may happen as it was reported on Tuesday, April 14, that the Welsh Government had missed its target of 5,000 tests a day, with only 770 coronavirus tests carried out the day before.

A spokeswoman for Amazon said: "Now more than ever, Amazon's fulfilment and delivery networks play a critical role in serving customers. In these unprecedented times, we remain committed to the health and safety of our employees, partners, and the customers we serve.

"With guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), we've implemented a series of preventative health measures at our sites around the world to help keep our employees, partners, and customers safe.

"These include increasing the frequency and intensity of cleaning, introducing the two-metre distancing rule for all parts of the operation, staggering shift start, finish and break times, and providing hand sanitiser stations and reminders on hand-washing.

"We’ve made face masks available to our employees and drivers, implemented temperature checks at our sites and our deliveries are contact-free.

"Any Amazon employee diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine will receive up to two weeks’ of additional paid time off, so they can get healthy without worrying about lost income."

Coronavirus latest

An additional £2 per hour will be added to employee's wages until the end of April.

Steve Phillips, a trainer at Amazon Swansea, said: “There has never been a time when I have been more proud to work for Amazon. Being based in Swansea I see first-hand the efforts the company is making to protect us during an ever-changing situation. Amazon has really gone above and beyond to give us a real sense of safety.”

Chris Law, Amazon Swansea site leader, said: "Whether it’s fulfilling orders in one of our fulfilment centres, delivering an order to a customer’s doorstep, or one of the many roles inbetween, we couldn’t be more proud of the critical role our teams are serving by enabling people to stay safe at home while receiving the products they need.

"Nothing is more important to us than making sure we protect the health of our teams, and we’ve been working around the clock since the early days of the outbreak to make changes to our processes and procure the necessary supplies for this.”